Posted on 11/05/2014 11:51:33 PM PST by BurningOak
Oregon and Alaska approved recreational pot use – following Washington State and Colorado, which did the same in 2012 – and the District of Columbia approved legal marijuana possession but not sales, though the move could still be halted by the new US Congress.
Though medical marijuana was rejected in Florida, the steps by Oregon, Alaska, and the District add momentum to a movement that is eyeing California next. Recommended: How much do you know about marijuana? Take the quiz
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Yet marijuana remains prohibited by the federal government, and the issue could come to a head in the District of Columbia. Congress can veto any Washington, D.C., legislation, and legalization of marijuana there could force conservatives' hand. Alternately, the next president could take a firmer stand than President Obama has
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Congress could just decriminalize it at the federal level, while still criminalizing the importation of it, and let states decide the rest. While this isn’t my issue, it may be a good first step towards swinging back towards a strong tenth amendment.
From Daily Kos, Dems intend to get this on as many state ballots as they can for 2016, because it draws out the uninformed non-voter, who will mark the Dem ballot.
They likely aren’t going to have a black candidate in 2016, so this, and ginned-up Hispanic “racial tension”, is how they intend to bring out the stupid to vote.
Kind of like the reverse of the marriage ballots in 2004...
Still, I think that atleast in purple states where it makes a difference, only a narrow majority of pot smokers are liberals. I know atleast two people who smoke weed and fly confederate flags, I doubt this strategy will win them any states. That said, whoever is the GOP nominee should not center his campaign on this one issue, as it is about the only thing we lost last night.
What about employers that have zero tolerance? Now you have a bunch of unemployed potheads.
What about driving? What is the limit for under the influence? What jurisdictions have the ability to test for that?
2 recent cases here in Smalltown,USA where drivers were under the influence of pot only killed someone, one victim a mother pushing her twins in a stroller.
A large majority of arresstees for violent and property crimes have THC in their systems.
Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin were frequent users and had THC in their systems at the time they committed assault.
"From Daily Kos, Dems intend to get this on as many state ballots as they can for 2016, because it draws out the uninformed non-voter, who will mark the Dem ballot."
Interesting strategy by which to attract the same type of "novelty" voter that opted for Barack Hussein Obama in 2008.
Market to a bunch of kids just out of high school with very little else going on in their lives.
Or even more insidious, seeking to keep a large segment of society in a state of unmotivated dependence...and beholden to government.
Good questions. Like I said I am not a legalization advocate, just kind of meh on the issue.
Employees have a right to fire potheads and legalization does not change this. No illegal is not the same as a civil right. Driving: is there any way to test for pot intoxication? It stays in your system for like a month from what I understand so a positive urine test is pretty meaningless. But yes, driving high is like driving drunk.
As for the association with criminals, I think it is a case of correlation not meaning causation. Potheads are generally harmless while high, they just sit there, babble nonsense, and stare at their hands. It is just that the kind of people who commit crimes are also the kind that often smoke weed.
Heavily used by mohammadens in Afcrapistan and ME and everywhere in the violent regions of Africa.
Also, I like the idea of taking this revenue stream away from the cartels but we have to know that they will recover that lost revenue by increasing/improving their heroin/meth/coke trade. Unintended consequences and all.
On the other hand, our enforcement agencies will be able to focus more resources on the more dangerous drugs which is good.
On the other hand it is not nearly as dangerous as alcohol, tobacco, or fast food.”
Tobacco and fast food are more dangerous than pot? Surely you jest. When was the last time someone smoked a cigarette and ate a hamburger from Mickey D’s and then was driving a car which was involved in an auto accident in which someone was injured or killed?
Tobacco and fast food kill hundreds of thousands every year through diseases (cardiac disease, diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema). All car accidents kill 30,000 a year total, of these a tiny fraction involve pot. So yes, cigarettes and MacDonalds are bigger killers.
I saw a news story last week touting a phone poll of Colorado pot retail store owners and they said they were supporting Gardner over Udall 78%
Surprising to many here I’m sure
Thanks to prohibition they weren't able to get enough to sedate themselves! If they had lived in a sane society they could have supplied all they needed in their garden. They would be alive today.
Leave as a states issue. I think it’s kind of nice having homeless Texans making career moves to Colorado because they can legally smoke pot there.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/pot-draws-homeless-texans-to-colorado/28186888
I have to agree with you on this one 100%. It’s not a federal issue it’s a states issue. It would free up prison space that is for sure.
Since I do a lot of research on my health conditions I get to read about MMJ usage.
Cannaboids which don’t have the bad element that gets you high, is finding a home in the medical field. But it is a lengthy process to distill it down to that point. 1 gram is like $80 bucks. To me it’s not been studied enough to be a proven medical use yet. More research needs to happen. And can it be mixed to target specific medical needs?
I have FMS (fibromyalgia) 30 yrs of severe muscle pain and stiffness. Their drugs are worst than the FMS. And most in the FMS community are swearing by the pain relief MMJ brings. Cancer patients are also lobbying for it to treat the severe nausea that drugs don’t work well on. Then you have those of us with digestive disorders. There again they swear by the pain relief in MMJ. But most are smoking it, and getting high, which to me is just putting them into La La Land where you don’t care about the pain. And leaves them with the lung cancer causing agents. Which is not worth it.
I watched my parents die of lung cancer from cig smoking. But I have NO right to tell a person they can’t do it, as this is still a free country, if we can keep it. I can restrict it’s use in my car or home as that is personal property/space. I think places that ban cigs should have to provide a place that is weather controlled for those they ban from their buildings as it is only the right thing to do. Eventually they will tax it out of reach or people will wise up and learn the dangers of it. Probation didn’t work and was a waste of prison space and money better spent elsewhere.
We don’t need a Nanny State.
Weed is dangerous, but f the research is to be believed. Additionally, the impairment effects can be as deadly as alcohol. The issue I have is our socialist society. If somebody wants to destroy thier life with drugs, our social programs try to save him or her via my tax dollars. Eliminating the WOD will never save our country money; on the contrary, the funds will be shifted to take care of junkies.
You say people who smoke it contribute nothing to society but then say it’s mostly harmless. I don’t see it as harmless then. And what kind of military might will we be in years to come if our soldiers are stoned and slow to react? I don’t think we should give this supposedly “harmless” drug the green light. It’s going to open up a pandora’s box, I don’t care what anyone says. If we were like Native American’s of old living off the land and trading or farming to make living fine, but it won’t be good for a modern industrial society.
BS I smoked for 22 years and my lungs and heart are fine. I eat McDonald’s a few times a week and my cholesterol and heart and weight is good. I don’t smoke pot but in my youth when I did I felt pretty F’d up. Plus it was laced once with PCP and my girlfriend and I got paranoid and almost did some crazy stuff. POT is a drug that can make one paranoid, hallucinate, kills brain cells, slows reaction time, etc. Tell me the former two substances can do that.
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